Moore, J., Rose, A., Anderson, S., Evans, J., Nowell, G., Gröcke, D.R., Pashley, V., Kirby, M., Montgomery, J., 2020. A multi-isotope (C, N, O, Sr, Pb) study of Iron Age and Roman period skeletons from east Edinburgh, Scotland exploring the relationship between decapitation burials and geographical origins. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 29, 102075.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X19303931 Recent excavations at Musselburgh, East Lothian (Scotland) revealed twelve skeletons, radiocarbon dated to the Iron Age and Roman period. The high incidence of skeletal trauma characteristic of decapitation in those of Roman date makes this site unusual. A multi-isotope investigation of seven of these individuals was conducted to explore any link between intrusive burial practices and migration at one of Britain's most northerly frontiers. 13 15 Bulk collagen analysis provided a terrestrial, C , dietary protein s ignal (mean δ C -20.4‰ and δ N + 11.1‰), 3 18 87 86 consistent with other Romano- British studies. However, the range of δ O, Sr/ Sr and Pb isotopes indicate more diverse origins for the Roman individuals. These results suggest that decapitation burials were afforded to migrants to the Lothian area, but is not indicative of a common origin, implying that something more complex than a shared geographic childhood origin united these individuals. The possible association of these decapitation burials with a nearby 2nd century fort suggests that they may also represent some of the earliest examples of Roman decapitation burials to be found anywhere in Britain.

Morgan, V.G., Bastos, T.M., Sad, C.M.S., Leite, J.S.D., Castro, E.R.V., Barbosa, L.L., 2020. Application of low- field nuclear magnetic resonance to assess the onset of asphaltene precipitation in petroleum. Fuel 265, 116955.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016236119323488 Knowledge of the onset of the asphaltene precipitation point is important in preventing pipe clogging and the reduction of productivity. In this study, we propose a new and simple strategy to determine the onset point of asphaltene precipitation by a low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique based on transverse relaxation time (T ) measurements. Six Brazilian crude oil (light, medium, and heavy) samples, with asphaltene 2 contents ranging from 0.10 to 7.10 wt%, were assessed using n-heptane as the precipitant, according to the ASTM D6560 method. The good correlation between T and the n-heptane/oil ratio indicated the onset 2 - 1 precipitation values between 0.931 and 2.759 mL g . NMR results shows agreement with optical microscopy and literature results. We also propose a correlation between asphaltene content and onset of the asphaltene precipitation. This new idea expand the applicability of low-field NMR in crude oil studies, providing an alternative method for asphaltene precipitation under laboratory conditions and opens the possibility to quantifying the asphaltene content in crude oil without the laborious standard ASTM method.

Moro, Moro, M.K., Neto, Á.C., Lacerda, V., Romão, W., Chinelatto, L.S., Castro, E.V.R., Filgueiras, P.R., 2020. FTIR, H 13 and C NMR data fusion to predict crude oils properties. Fuel 263, 116721.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016236119320757 Data fusion from different analytical sources can be a feasible way to estimate physicochemical properties of petroleum when compared to using a single analytical technique. This occurs because outputs of different instrumental techniques can carry complementary information and act synergistically during calibration. In this paper, we investigate the potential of data fusion strategies for estimating seven crude oil properties: sulphur content (S), total nitrogen content (TN), basic nitrogen content (BN), total acid number (TAN), saturated (SAT), aromatic (ARO) and polar (POL) contents. We used 127 crude oil samples split into 70% for calibration and 30% for prediction. Partial least squares (PLS) regression models were constructed from Fourier transform mid- 1 13 infrared (FTIR) and H and C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Data fusion models were built: fused at low and mid-level in different combinations. While mid-level fusion usually increased the accuracy of models, low-level fusion caused insignificant improvements. Using PLS mid-level fusion, we estimated S, TN, BN, TAN, SAT, AROand POL contents with average prediction errors of 0.064 wt%, 0.049 - 1 wt%, 0.0070 wt%, 0.16 mgKOH·g , 5.34 wt%, 3.66 wt% and 6.58 wt%, respectively, with coefficients of